AUTOWORKER NEWSLETTER —Published by the World Socialist Web Site WSWS.ORG Vote “no” on second UAW- FCA sellout contract! Build rank-and-file action committees in every plant! The World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter calls on by the UAW in 2007 and expanded as a precondition for the Fiat Chrysler workers to reject the latest pro-company deal Obama administration’s bailout of the industry in 2009. being pushed by the United Auto Workers. The contract pre- Far from abolishing this system, under the proposed agree- serves all the basic demands of FCA, with only minor modi- ment a second-tier worker would have to wait eight years fications over the deal rejected by a 2-1 margin earlier this before reaching $29 per hour. In other words, it would take a month. newly hired “in progression” worker until 2023 to earn roughly After being stunned by the “no” vote on its last deal, the UAW the same rate in nominal terms that a first-tier worker makes has hired a New York public relations firm to sell the deal, right now. There would also be no change to the substandard with the media dubbing President Dennis Williams—a close health care and pension benefits for these workers. personal friend of FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne—the “mar- What this really means is that the UAW and the company keter-in-chief.” It is claiming that the contract is “one of the are setting a new, permanently lower base wage and benefit richest contracts we have ever negotiated,” with significant system, which will be made universal once older, higher-paid improvements over the first deal. workers are forced out through a combination of speedups, The UAW’s position is shot through with contradictions. First, tougher absentee policies, early retirement schemes and it should be noted that the union furiously denounced the corporate restructuring. Since first-tier workers have not re- WSWS Autoworker Newsletter for its role in helping defeat ceived a raise in more than a decade, the end result will be a the first contract. “Outside groups” like to “stir people up,” two-decade long freeze in autoworker wages. Williams fumed after the landslide “no” vote, while the chief Moreover, many workers have pointed out that the eight-year counsel of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO denounced the WSWS progression to the top tier-two wage means that the UAW as a “vulture on the left dressed in red garb.” Workers who and FCA are making pledges beyond the life of the contract. rejected the contract were smeared as being “misinformed” But these pledges are worth nothing! The company and UAW by “social media,” as if they were incapable of recognizing a pledged—in the 2011 UAW-FCA contract “highlights”—to sellout when they saw one. restore the 25 percent cap on second-tier workers, yet this Yet the “no” vote has supposedly produced one of the best promise has been dropped. contracts the UAW has ever negotiated! If this were true, Wil- * Doubling of percentage of temporary workers. In a liams and Co. should be thanking the WSWS Autoworker section of the contract not included in the self-serving Newsletter. The UAW should be hailing autoworkers for being “highlights” put out by the UAW, the company is given the more perceptive than the union executives, and apologizing ability to double the percentage of “temporary” workers, to them for claiming that the previous deal was the best that from four percent to eight percent. These workers, who will they could get. be able to work any day of the year, are often employed for In reality, however, the new contract is not a victory for auto- several years, rendering absurd the term “temporary.” workers, and the current marketing campaign by the UAW is Moreover, a portion of the deal creates the framework for merely the continuation of its previous efforts to ram through forcing seniority workers to accept temporary positions if a rotten deal by hook or by crook. they are laid off. In effect, FCA and the UAW are collaborat- The basic elements of the new deal include: ing to create a new third tier as part of their overall strategy * No cap on tier-two workers and expansion of two-tier to drastically reduce labor costs. system. The UAW has sought to palm off the deal as phasing * Nothing for tier-one workers and retirees. Workers hired out the hated two-tier wage and benefit system, first accepted before 2007 will receive an insulting six percent increase over the next four years with no restoration of Cost of Living. If these workers had received COLA and a three percent

Subscribe to the weekly digital newsletter annual improvement factory traditionally contained in UAW Sign up at: wsws.org/autoworkers turn over continued from front As the WSWS wrote following the “no” vote, neither FCA nor the UAW have any intention of offering a better deal to auto- contracts, they would be making $51.04 per hour right now, workers. FCA is pursuing a broader strategy aimed at further instead of $28.50. Retirees who have seen their benefits cut reducing labor costs in the global auto industry in order to under the union-run VEBA health care fund will get nothing. boost profits. * Backroom plans for significant health care cuts. Any Marchionne has the full backing of Wall Street and the Obama meager pay increases will be more than eaten up by hikes in administration. In the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, both the out-of-pocket health care costs as Obama’s Cadillac Tax on Democrats and Republicans have worked to engineer a his- supposedly over-generous medical plans comes into effect toric transfer of wealth from the working class to the cor- in 2018. The UAW has agreed to help FCA “reduce costs” porate and financial elite. A further attack on autoworkers is including through the introduction of hundreds of dollars in seen as critical in the drive to lower wages and shift the bur- first-ever deductibles for workers who refuse to sign up for den of health care onto the backs of workers. inferior health plans. Within this context, the UAW has played the role of a labor While the UAW has temporarily dropped its proposal for a police force for the companies and the state. It is a union in union-run health “co-op,” it is committed to push for it again. name only, and is in fact thoroughly integrated into the struc- UAW-GM officials are already distributing “Co-op Talking tures of corporate management. The UAW functions as a Points” to swindle GM workers. The deal also includes an business in its own right, whose sole interest is defending the agreement between the UAW and FCA to transfer the health salaries of its executives while suppressing the resistance of care plan for workers from Blue Cross Blue Shield to some the working class. other provider, with the clear intention of reducing costs and coverage. Throughout its discussions with FCA, the UAW had not en- gaged in any negotiations in the conventional sense of the * Profit-sharing and other bonuses instead of base pay term. It thought it could simply ram through a contract drawn increases. Profit-sharing schemes are not only subject to up by FCA based on phony “highlights” and the campaign taxes and union dues deductions but do nothing to improve of corporate media lies. But one thing got in the way: a well- hourly wages used to calculate overtime, vacation pay, informed and militant workforce determined to recoup losses pensions and other benefits. The major aim of the auto from years of UAW-backed concessions. executives, Wall Street and the UAW has been to prevent any increases in fixed labor costs. Shocked by the vote, the UAW responded by declaring a “strike notice,” which was called off at the last minute. With a Future compensation will be ever more closely tied to pro- new pro-company deal in hand, the union is waging a cam- ductivity and “worker commitment,” opening the way to a paign of lies and intimidation. 21st century version of the piecework system. In lieu of pay increases, workers’ livelihood will be held hostage to corpo- The initiative seized by workers through the powerful “no” rate profit levels, meaning they will have to pay for economic vote on the first deal must be continued and expanded. All crises and the shortsighted and often criminal decisions of efforts to divide workers against each other, to pit first-tier corporate executives over whom workers have no control. against second-tier workers, must be combated. The misin- formation campaign by the UAW must be opposed through * The destruction of nearly 3,000 jobs at Warren Truck systematic exposures of what is really being planned. in suburban Detroit and other factories. Marchionne has made no secret that he wants to make FCA a more attractive To wage this fight, rank-and-file factory committees should partner for a mega-merger to eliminate “overcapacity” and be organized in every plant to take the conduct of this strug- share capital costs, a move that would trigger a further gle out of the hands of the UAW. These committees should consolidation of the global auto industry at the cost of tens establish lines of communication among FCA plants to cam- of thousands of jobs. paign for the defeat of the deal, and to unite with GM, Ford and auto parts workers and broader sections of workers in The supposed job security pledges include an escape clause the US and internationally. allowing the closure, sale or spin-off of business assets if conditions “arise that are beyond the control of the compa- The struggle to overturn the regime of poverty wages and ny” including “market-related volume declines or significant the dictatorship of the corporate and financial elite over so- economic decline.” ciety requires an industrial and political counteroffensive by the working class against both big business parties, the pro- Under the agreement, the UAW also has the power to reopen company trade unions and the profit system they defend. the national agreement and impose whatever concessions it chooses to improve plant “competitiveness” and “create job opportunities.” This will only accelerate the fratricidal strug- Join the fight to build rank-and-file gle between workers over who will work for the lowest wages and worst conditions. committees: * The continuation of the Alternative Work Schedules (AWS) and no overtime payments for after eight hours. Contact the Socialist Equality Party This will leave workers at the mercy of grueling work schedules and the damage it causes to workers’ physical, Email: [email protected] mental and family lives. or call: (313)-409-8083 Visit our facebook page at fb.com/autoworker.newsletter